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Circle Economy and ICLEI have partnered up to initiate the go to knowledge hub of case studies about the circular economy in cities. The Cities Collection is a repository of case studies that demonstrate the role of cities in the circular transition, and includes policies, business cases and research articles. Cases in the Collection flow into an ecosystem of digital products which support users in transitioning cities to circularity, for example [Ganbatte](https://ganbatte.world/cities/) and <a href="https://circulars.iclei.org/" target="_blank">ICLEI Circulars</a>, both part of the <a href="https://circulars.iclei.org/circle-lab-for-cities/" target = _blank">Circle Lab for Cities Programme.</a>




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Circular Cities

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Business case

Impact on the health and happiness of human populations

Well-being

Minimise waste through diversion: Instead of sending waste to landfill, it is redirected into other industrial processes for handling, treatment, recycling, recovery, or reuse in various forms. 

Minimise waste through design: At the outset of a process of project, plan and design such that there is zero waste or minimal waste during production, use, and at end of life. 

Minimise Waste (SDG12)

Contributing to the improvement of biodiversity including species diversity, total number of protected species, and ecosystem health

Biodiversity

Producing and providing business and consumer goods and services

Goods and Services

Providing water and sewage services, including water collection and distribution, water treatment systems and sewage treatment facilities

Water and Sewage

Collecting waste from households and businesses by means of refuse bins, wheeled bins, containers, etc., and providing treatment, incineration, materials recovery and reclamation, and disposal of hazardous and non-hazardous waste

Waste Management

Ensure renewable, reusable, non-toxic resources are utilised as materials and energy in an efficient way

Prioritise regenerative resources

Engage with the government on circular policies and programmes

Government collaboration

Public-private partnerships

Develop infrastructure to support resource cycling

Manufactured goods, such as vehicles, textiles, appliances and equipment and their associated production processes are big employers but:
- production processes often rely on fossil fuels and currently drive one-third of the overshoot on the climate change planetary boundary due to its GHG production, 
- material- and energy-intensive industrial activities are linked to deforestation and drive 15% on both the land use and freshwater planetary boundaries, 
- manufacturing goods results in substantial amounts of hazardous industrial waste and leaks chemicals into the environment.

Here, circular solutions must tackle the full value chain, but material demand must also shrink: this will necessitate a societal shift to favouring sufficiency over excess and reducing consumption to sustainable levels. Our four key solutions for manufactured goods are:
- Mainstream industrial symbiosis and efficiency : Achieve process improvements, scrap diversion and reduction in yield losses through greater industrial symbiosis and efficiency. Foster tighter collaboration within and between industries to deliver powerful material and emissions savings.
- Extend the lifetime of machinery, equipment, and goods: Maximise the lifetime of goods that serve our daily needs to bring a number of environmental benefits. 
- Buy what's needed: Reduce the number of purchases of common electronic goods, appliances, and other equipment to sufficiency levels. 
- Eschew fast fashion in favour of sustainable textiles: Drastically reduce new clothing purchases. All used clothing should go on to be repaired, reused or, if needed, recycled appropriately. Prioritise natural and local textile manufacturing, as well as higher-quality and more durable garments. 




👕📱 Consumer Goods

Governments

A key source of waste generated by urban residents stems from single-use plastics, such as plastic bags and packaging, and other fast moving consumer goods that are produced to be cheap and disposable. If this waste is not disposed of correctly, then such residual materials can pollute the environment. Waste that is generated in cities can also find its way outside of the city, for example, being carried in water ways to pollute other water bodies. 

Systems, initiatives and infrastructure can focus on preventing these types of waste from polluting the local environment. For example, infrastructure placed in local waterways can protect natural systems by diverting plastic pollution. Furthermore, other initiatives could clean up (plastic) waste directly to restore natural systems in a safe and effective way. 

Local governments can support the implementation of solutions by establishing partnerships with and promoting existing initiatives, as well as developing and financing the infrastructures that could reduce the pollution in the local environment.  

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👕📱  Clean up pollution of fast moving consumer goods

Regenerate strategies phase out hazardous or toxic materials and processes and substitute them with regenerative biomass resources. A circular economy aims to mimic natural cycles—by shifting to more regenerative farming practices, for example—while also maximising the share of circular biomass that enters the economy. Regeneration can happen both at the systems level (by designing regenerative processes) as well as at the product level (by switching synthetic to organic fertilisers, for example).

Regenerate

Impacts

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Industries

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A framework of policy instruments that enabled and encourage the transition to the circular economy

Policy Instruments

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A framework of policy instruments that enable and stimulate the transition to the circular economy

The principles of a circular economy concern designing out waste, regenerating ecosystems and keeping items in use. Decoupling the economy from material flows—improving the rate of resource productivity faster than the economic growth rate—is also a consistent guide. By evolving with the growing number of applications of circular economy principles, and consolidating these strategies across thematic areas, Circle Economy’s Key Elements Framework (KE) renders the elements of the circular economy salient and serves as a basis to derive contextual strategies and interventions. 


The Framework consists of:
- Core Elements: Activities directly handling product or material flows; and uniquely,
- Enabling Elements: those that remove obstacles for core actors.


Key elements of the circular economy

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Circle Economy's framework of strategies and activities that define the circular economy

The Circular City Actions Framework provides urban changemakers with five complementary strategies they can use to start working towards a more circular system. 

The framework is action-based to provide users with concrete strategic directions and showcase the desired outcomes of each strategy. 
The framework consists of five complementary **strategies**, under which **sub-strategies** provide further detail. Finally, each sub-strategy consists of a diversity of tangible **solutions** which are framed in relation to key thematic areas. 

Note: solutions are currently focused on:
- 🍏 **Food systems**
- 🏢  **Built environment**
- 👕📱  **Consumer goods**
- ⚡ **Energy Systems**
- 🚌 **Mobility Systems**
- 💧 **Water Systems**

More thematic areas are coming soon...

'Click through each of the five strategy cards below to explore the framework and circular economy case studies in more depth!'



This framework was developed in collaboration with ICLEI, Metabolic and Ellen MacArthur Foundation with support from the MAVA Foundation. Read more about it [here]( https://circulars.iclei.org/action-framework/). 



Circular City Actions Framework

An action-based framework for local governments working towards circular cities

Thematic Areas

City Stakeholders

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Based on the work of [Bocken et al. (2016)](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309699661_Product_design_and_business_model_strategies_for_a_circular_economy), the Four Flows Framework serves as a simple framework for managing resource flows in a circular economy by using less (Narrow), using for longer (Slow), using again (Cycle), and using clean, regenerative materials and energy (Regenerate).

These different principles of circular economy can be applied to our socioeconomic metabolism: we can design stocks like buildings, infrastructure, machinery, and vehicles to be rich resource mines for the future, and design manufactured goods and consumables to be cycled and made regenerative. Furthermore, the focus must also centre on getting more value out of fewer materials. Achieving the aims of a circular economy—minimising material use, regenerating the Earth, and preventing material losses—can be done through these four key strategies mentioned above.

Source: Circle Economy. (2023). *[The circularity gap report 2023](https://www.circularity-gap.world/2023)* (p.22). Amsterdam: Circle Economy. 

Four Flows Framework

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      Every year, more than 8 million tons of plastic pollution ends up in our oceans of which 60-80% originates from rivers. Plastic does not biodegrade and causes great harm to the environment. Marine life gets entangled in plastics, vessels get damaged and microplastics form a health hazard for the smallest to the largest organisms.
The Great Bubble Barrier has developed a technology which can intercept plastic pollution in rivers before it reaches the ocean: the Bubble Barrier. By creating a curtain of air bubbles, plastic is prevented from flowing downstream. The Bubble Barrier is an unique sustainable system: is fish-friendly, does not hinder ship traffic and covers the entire width and depth of the waterway.      
        The bubble curtain is created by pumping air through a perforated tube on the bottom of the waterway. This bubble curtain creates an upward current which directs the plastics to the surface. By placing the Bubble Barrier diagonally in the river, it makes use of the natural flow of the river. This way, the plastic waste will be directed to the side and into a catchment system at the riverbank, where it will be retained and removed from the water.
This innovative concept is based on existing technology. It increases oxygen in the water and does not require changes in infrastructure or policies. It is easily scalable.        The concept has been extensively tested in collaboration with the Dutch government public works agency ‘Rijkswaterstaat’, Deltares and BAM / Van den Herik. After testing the concept in the water laboratory of Deltares in May 2017, a three-week trial was held in the IJssel river in November. During this test period, the European research team proved that the 180-metre-long Bubble Barrier works under all conditions. It showed that the Bubble Barrier was capable of catching 86% of the test material.
In November 2019 The Great Bubble Barrier implemented the first long-term Bubble Barrier in the world in Amsterdam in collaboration with Water Authority Amstel, Gooi and Vecht and gemeente Amsterdam. You can visit this Bubble Barrier at the location at Westerdok. The Great Bubble Barrier is constantly working on new projects. The ambition is to implement this solution in Europe and Asia.
https://thegreatbubblebarrier.com/en/
           

           Cleaning rivers from plastic pollution with bubbles  Our bubble barrier catches plastic over the fu­ll width and depth of rivers and prevents plastic from ending up in the ocean. The system does not interfere with regular river activities and is operational 24/7.
           Cleaning rivers from plastic pollution with bubbles  Our bubble barrier catches plastic over the fu­ll width and depth of rivers and prevents plastic from ending up in the ocean. The system does not interfere with regular river activities and is operational 24/7.
                                                 A smart solution to plastic pollution  The bubble curtain is created by a perforated tube on the bottom of the waterway where air is pumped through. This generates a screen of bubbles that blocks plastics and directs suspended plastics to the surface. The diagonal placement of the bubble curtain in the waterway guides plastic waste to the side and into the catchment system.                            Are you ready to take action? Send an inquiry and we will get in contact with you.        Are you ready to take action? Send an inquiry and we will get in contact with you.        In order to tackle plastic pollution effectively, we need your help. Since the problem is transboundary by nature it makes it hard to assign ownership.
That’s why we need people to take action today. Find out how we can create an impact at your location.        The Great Bubble Barrier aims to stop plastic pollution in rivers and canals before it reaches our oceans. We aim to achieve this through four pillars:

Use our Bubble Barrier to remove plastic from waterways.
Monitor the amount of plastic in waterways to support the development of policy and additional measures.
Ensure sustainable processing of our catch with project partners.
Increase awareness to prevent plastic pollution.
   Find out how you can help to achieve this goal:        Want to partner up with The Great Bubble Barrier and support our mission? Find out about the possibilities.    Have a location in mind for a Bubble Barrier? Or do you want to find out whether your location is suitable for a Bubble Barrier? Initiate a Bubble Barrier.    Do you want to support our mission? Our sponsors and funders are crucial to accelerate the placement of Bubble Barriers worldwide. Get in touch!            In summer 2022, The Great Bubble Barrier will be implementing a new Bubble Barrier in the Porto region in Portugal.                            Sustainable Development Goals  At The Great Bubble Barrier we aim to contribute to a more sustainable future. SDGs that can be linked to our cause are:                     Sign up for our quarterly newsletter. 
         

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Amsterdam

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The Great Bubble Barrier

<p>Every year, more than 8 million tons of plastic pollution ends up in our oceans of which 60-80% originates from rivers. The Great Bubble Barrier&nbsp;has developed a technology which can intercept plastic pollution in rivers before it reaches the ocean.</p>